Investing · Western classics

Adam Smith:The Wealth of Nations, Book IV, Chapter VI, Paragraph 1285

Adam Smith《The Wealth of Nations》· Book IV, Chapter VI · Investing

When the tax upon a commodity is so moderate as not to encourage smuggling, the merchant who deals in it, though he advances, does not properly pay the tax, as he gets it back in the price of the commodity. The tax is finally paid by the last purchaser or consumer. But money is a commodity, with regard to which every man is a merchant. Nobody buys it but in order to sell it again; and with regard to it there is, in ordinary cases, no last purchaser or consumer. When the tax upon coinage, therefore, is so moderate as not to encourage false coining, though every body advances the tax, nobody finally pays it; because every body gets it back in the advanced value of the coin.

Source: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3300
Locator:Book IV, Chapter VI, paragraph 1285 · Verified:2026-10-19 · Verification:Exact match

This is a direct reading: the original and source are kept; commentary will be added later.

Today's question

Does this passage change one judgment about money or risk today?

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